London councils link through web CRM project
In London, UK, four regional council authorities have teamed up to form a collaborative web-based citizen relationship management initiative called 'LivinLondon', which aims to provide residents of the four areas with boundary-less access to council services.
The new LivinLondon website, the result of cooperative efforts between the Royal Borough of Kingston and the London boroughs of Hounslow, Merton, and Richmond-upon-Thames, allows residents to access information about council and other public services, and to identify their nearest amenities, and find out about local events, regardless of which borough they live in.
The site will also speed up the councils' ability to respond to common complaints from residents (such as abandoned vehicles - the UK Department of Trade and Industry estimates that, in 2001-2002, some 680,000 cars were abandoned in the UK).
Project goals The driving force behind the UK's 2005 e-government targets placed on local authorities is the creation of integrated services that are more responsive to citizens and more cost-effective for tax-payers.
The LivinLondon initiative needed to find a technology which was flexible enough to cope with a broad range of requirements from all its partners and which could easily be integrated with the disparate applications operated by each of the boroughs - which is where Frontline for Local Government CRM from Lagan entered the picture. Frontline was chosen as the underlying CRM infrastructure, with integration and hosting being provided by Anite. For most of the services, Frontline directly integrates with each council's line of business applications, directing the information through to the correct department at the appropriate local authority.
"This project will benefit both individuals and communities in the four boroughs, uniting them by improving their online access to an extensive range of local information and services," said Gerry Sevenoaks, head of strategic services for the Royal Borough of Kingston. "We hope that LivinLondon will benefit communities across Kingston, Hounslow, Merton and Richmond, and will provide a useful prototype for similar projects, and a possible model for future London-wide partnerships."
For additional information: · Visit LivinLondon at http://www.livinlondon.org.uk · Visit Lagan at http://www.lagan.com